Through a Reinventing Education grant awarded in 1995, IBM and the School District of Philadelphia tackled two significant challenges: improving the literacy skills of students and raising the quality of teaching. To help provide children with a more solid grounding in reading, the project developed Watch-me!-Read, software that uses interactive speech recognition technology to provide students in grades 1-5 with reading support and practice.
To help improve teaching, the partnership built Continuous Practice Improvement (CPI) schools throughout the district. These schools focused on hands-on professional development by putting teacher training in real classrooms. At CPI schools, "visiting" teachers strengthened and built upon specific skills by observing and learning from more experienced "resident" teachers and trying out new instructional methods themselves in a supported environment. Visiting teachers were able to keep in close contact with resident teachers for advice and encouragement and to share ideas, lesson plans, instructional practices, and strategies via Riverdeep Learning Village.
Philadelphia Public Schools is now building upon the CPI model as it expands teacher professional development efforts throughout the district.
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